AmyLiz, that must have been difficult for your mother to have to deal with. I am glad she was there for the wife.

-t, you're link is going to make me more paranoid about the doorbell. How creepy.

Makes me a little glad my doorbell doesn't work.

THis made me think of beth and her doorbell reports: [link]

That's so awesome and freaky.

The last load is in the washer. Teacup Guy's stinky socks will have to wait.

going to make me more paranoid about the doorbell.

Finally, something scarier than the Land Shark.

I love how the wife went and put her husband's hat on for him, one more time. It seems very sweet. Especially because I myself would prefer expiring in my garden at an advanced age to some of the other more time-consuming possibilities, like cancer. (Hate cancer).

7.5 days...7.5 days...7.5 days...7.5 days...

2.5 days...2.5 days...2.5 days...2.5 days

Finally done with laundry. I'll "see" you all when I get home.

I need advice as to whether or not I'm completely overreacting to something.

Earlier this week, I had to go to the hospital for a CAT scan (stoopid sinus problems - feh). Of course, there was paperwork, including a form where I had to give my address and they asked me to say when I would be in to pick up the films. Looking at the form, I noticed that it also had delivery options (1st class mail, free; overnight mail, $8; FedEx,$20).

Since they are only open the same hours that I work and I have to take about 1.5 hours off work to get there and back, I asked if I could use the 1st class mail option. They indicated that people who lived in town had to pick up films. They would only mail if you lived out of town or needed them sent to an out of town doctor or hospital. I politely explained that this was very inconvenient and I was paying the same amount as the out-of-towners, so shouldn't I get the same service. As a matter of fact, I even offered to pay postage. They were clearly set up to do mailing, because they already do mailing for others. They insisted that in no case would they mail films to local addresses.

This seems completely unreasonable to me. For me, this is inconvenient and I don't like it. But what about people for whom this is even more inconvenient: people with disabilities, people with children, people who are seriously ill or injured (or whose children are). It seems to me that there are enough things in health care that are unavoidably difficult, so it seems silly that they won't do something as simple as mail films, especially when they are clearly set up to do that for others. I did ask if there were any other reason for this policy, and neither of the people I spoke to could come up with one, and apparently neither could a higher supervisor.

I've been stewing over this for a couple of days. I would like to write a polite but complaining letter, but before I do, am I missing something here? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?

And if I'm not being unreasonable, any suggestions for a letter?

I hate to post and run, but I have to run. I'll probably be back in about two hours.

Do they offer any explanation for this policy? I've encountered doctors who preferred to give test results in person so they could explain/answer questions. Why are you picking up films, though? Are you basically just ferrying them to another doctor?

Unless there's a reason I'm not seeing, I think you're right about this. And if there is a reason, they need to be better able to justify it.

ETA: that's what I get for reading too fast. In the absence of a *good* reason why they need you there in person, that's completely asshatty. And you should write a letter.